Amazing Slow Downer Program
I guess I'm behind the times, because I just discovered this.I was watching the great version of 'The Guitar' by Verlon Thompson on YouTube and trying to figure out some of the fine arpeggios he plays. So I looked for TABS and found a young guy playing this song lick for lick and people commenting, 'Please post a TAB.'
So this young guy Derek Bahr (who only has 947 hits on his version) comments, 'you should download the Amazing Slow Downer' and just take the song piece by piece. I downloaded this application on a trial basis and was able to slow it down keeping the pitch true and tabbed out the opening licks for myself in just a few minutes.This may be old news to folks on the forum, but I just discovered it.
I'm buying the program. I think it's $30.Unless someone suggests a better one. Amazing Slow Downer is an audio player.
Amazing Slow Downer Full Version
You can open music files in this and it will play them very slowly, but in the same pitch (so the notes are the same.) You can do a search for Download Amazing Slow Downer. They let you download a trial version. You install this and open the program.
You can import an MP3 file. It is pretty easy. If you want, I can make a little YouTube video demonstrating it.I have to tell you, I've been trying to figure out licks for 40 years. It is especially difficult to hear fast bluegrass licks, but this program slows it WAAAYY down and you can hear each individual note as slow as you want. Seriously, this is the best learning tool I've found.
A good point in your video about hearing slides and pull offs. As everyone knows there are many ways to play a particular lead, break, lick, whatever you are tackling. Being able to pick up on the slides and pull offs often helps me get to the best position on the fretboard and the most practical way to play a particular part.Another different but maybe useful application for this product is the pitch control. Here's a creative way to use it if you like to practice by playing along with original recordings that are in a different key to what you play them in.
Many times my voice is not as high as the professional bluegrass recording so I've taken a bluegrass number in the key of B and am playing it in Bb or A. Usually it's the tenor part that restricts this. I can still practice the leads and the song in general in A, which allows me to play in the normal fretboard position where I play it, while playing along with the original recording but using Slow Downer to bring the song down from B to Bb or A. It really does help my muscle memory when I can practice in the correct fretboard position for some of the faster parts and I get lots of practice between group rehearsals playing along with the original recording.Of course once you know the notes you can combine the above pitch control with the speed control to start out at say 75% of the actual speed and then gradually bring the speed up as your practice pays off and you get better at playing the tougher parts. You can also select just a short section, say the guitar break on a particular song, and play just that part over and over while you play along too so you are not having to play the whole song if you are just learning a particular part.The guitar break on Blue Highway's Pikeville Flood is a great example of one I used this approach on recently. I can honestly say I would never have learned this break anywhere close to what I have done now without the use of Amazing Slow Downer. It has turned my boring repetitive approach to breaks and improvisation into new breaks played by pros with ideas I would never have come up with on my own.
They were just too fast for me to interpret well.As you can tell, I'm a big fan. Great post idea dallgire. Maybe posting this will help a few others take their playing to a new level.
I've been using the Amazing Slow Downer for years and it is a magnificent tool.Another invaluable feature is that while it is possible to slow down a track while maintaining the same pitch, you can also change the pitch while maintaining the same speed.I play bluegrass and many recordings (esp. Older ones) are not in standard A = 440Hz tuning (I believe that in the old days the band would often tune to the piano in the studio and therefore whatever pitch the piano had determined the pitch for the session).Anyway, the Slow Downer lets me adjust the pitch on those annoying recordings where the band a re playing somewhere in between my frets (i.e. The places where capos can't reach!).-Another point, you don't really need to 'import' a track, you just play ('open') a tune from your collection.
. Slow downer: as its name already suggests, Amazing Slow Downer offers the ability to slow down an audio file. With a simple drag and drop option, audio files can be added to the list on this program's interface. Audio editor: during the process, users are free to adjust some settings of the audio sound.
It is possible to adjust the frame rate, speed, pitch, volume levels, change channels and even use an equalizer. Speed up: another feature built-in to Amazing Slow Downer enables to speed up music up to twice the normal rate. The process can be done effortlessly.
Some clicks of the mouse are enough to perform all actions (speed up or slow down).Pros. This program can support keyboard shortcuts to access to all actions. Amazing Slow Downer offers an intuitive and graphical user interface.Cons.
This shareware version expires after some days of use.